Gaza war boosts voice from right

February 7, 2009|By Joel Greenberg, Tribune Newspapers

JERUSALEM -- Avigdor Lieberman, a burly, bearded politician who came to Israel from Moldova in 1978, is a divisive figure.

To his backers, he is a straight-talker who has clear-cut solutions to Israel's problems. To his critics, he is a thinly disguised racist and a threat to Israeli democracy. The leader of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose strongest power base is among fellow Russian speakers from the former Soviet Union, Lieberman is emerging as a potent force in the Israeli election race. He could be positioned to play a key role in the formation of the next Israeli government after voting this Tuesday.

Polls show Lieberman's party winning as many as 19 seats in the 120-member parliament, overtaking the center-left Labor party as the third-largest faction in the legislature. Both leading contenders for prime minister, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, could find it hard to form a coalition without Lieberman.

His popularity has been boosted by the nationalist fervor generated by the recent war against Hamas in Gaza and by discontent with leaders of mainstream parties who are seen as offering little new, analysts say.

At a time when the Obama administration is pushing to revive Mideast peace efforts, Lieberman opposes talks with the Palestinians based on an exchange of land for peace.

But Lieberman's main targets are Israel's Arab citizens, who he insists should be made to sign a loyalty oath and commit to national service before receiving the standard identity card that affirms citizenship.

"Without loyalty, there is no citizenship," says his party's campaign slogan, plastered on billboards and repeated on television ads.

Lieberman also advocates a land swap in which areas of Israel with large concentrations of Arabs would become part of a Palestinian state while Israel would annex areas of the West Bank with large blocs of Jewish settlements.

About 20 percent of Israel's 7 million citizens are Arabs, and a dozen serve in parliament.

"Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without," Lieberman told a security conference on Monday. "Terrorism from within is always more dangerous than terrorism from without."